Wednesday, May 13, 2015

For the Love of Ginger

When Mindful Echo's tummy hurts...

Anyone else have memories of sick days as a child? Days when the flu knocked you out and you were forced to spend the day in bed missing out on all the fun going on at school and on the playground? I know the only thing that comforted me then was sipping on a small glass of ginger ale (plus pop was a rare treat in my house).

As an adult I still turn to the spicy, soothing ginger root when my stomach gets upset. These days, though, I skip the processed version and go right to the original source. I get to the root of it - the ginger root, that is. (PUN FULLY INTENDED)

Ginger is a surprisingly simple food to work with.

Storing Ginger
I keep a large piece of ginger in the freezer and just snap off a chunk at a time for use.

Peeling Ginger
The simplest way to remove the thin skin is to use the side of a spoon. Just scrape the spoon along the edge of the ginger and the skin will peel off quite easily.

Grating Ginger
Because I generally start with frozen ginger, I like to use a microplane for grating. This has the added benefit of allowing the ginger to be combined into whatever you're cooking almost seamlessly. For people with a sensitive palate, a large chunk of unexpected ginger can be a bit offensive.

Ginger Tea
By far my favourite and most common use for ginger is to make it into a simple tea. The recipe? 1 chunk of ginger and a cup of boiling water. That's it. So easy! Just let the ginger steep and fill the water with the aromatic, slightly spicy flavour and you're good to go.

For me, a nice cup of ginger tea helps to soothe my frequently dissatisfied tummy. It virtually eliminates any nausea and helps with digestion. Personally, I enjoy sipping on some ginger tea after evening meals.

4 comments:

Wait! You freeze it? Genius. I'm going right now to move my ginger from the produce drawer into the freezer. I have been hesitant to use it because, as you mention, a large chunk in food is off-putting. I'll try the microplane.